I'm using this gallery wall for inspiration. Love it! I love that the frames do not all match, especially, so it looks more collected over time. Do you have any tips on how you brought it together so cohesively nevertheless? I see that most of them have mats.

Those beams are awesome. You can find them in a lumberyard, at vendors who specialize in reclaimed products or achitectural salvage OR you can even buy faux beams that look very real and are as light as a feather!

What Houzz contributors are saying:

Photo gallery. Photographs say more about us than anything else. Try to stick with a theme when displaying yours — maybe travel, family, landscapes or objects. It doesn't really matter, as long as the pictures make you happy. If you have a more formal room, a symmetrical display of photos sized and framed identically would work well. However, the Victorians loved to create tight displays of nonmatching frames, so feel free to get creative.

Davin added reclaimed wood beams to the ceiling, a nod to the home's Spanish revival roots. The beams warm the white canvas of the interior and visually expand the compact living room. A gallery of family photos fills one side.Tip: Master the medley of an eclectic gallery wall and embrace a nonlinear arrangement. Your home will feel less styled and more lived in. Weave the frames together with a common palette of neutrals to minimize a hodgepodge effect. Davin used black, birch and silver here.

Let me tell you, there is nothing that winds up a parent more than someone else's talking about his or her children, especially if you are discussing how much the children's images should be displayed throughout the home. As with all aspects of design, there is no right or wrong way; there are only suggestions, style tips and advice. You take from it what works for you and discard the rest. I confess that I am firmly in the less-is-more category when it comes to photos and where and how they should be displayed. How to Manage a Growing CollectionCollections of framed family photos typically happen over time. You buy a few cute frames here and there; someone gives you an extra-sparkly one as a present; your kids make one out of Popsicle sticks; your relatives send you random framed photos etc. Adding to the challenge is the fact that very few of the photos are ever the same size, format or even from the same time period ... visual chaos quickly ensues. A shelf full of mismatched frames can look as much like clutter as actual clutter does. Unifying the frames and photos creates design harmony and a sense of order that makes a huge difference in the way a room feels. In this room the family photos are in different-colored frames, and the photos are different sizes, but they are artfully unified by their uniquely loose grid-like placement as well as the shape and style of the frames.